Sacrifice
by NothingImpossible
Summary: They truly love each other, so they might have been truly happy. No couple in a millennium has that chance, no matter what the storybooks say. No Dark Ones in millennium will suffer as greatly as they will. A two-shot POV speculation fic for the midseason 5 finale, or, the thoughts that won't let me sleep at night.
1. Her Sacrifice

**Disclaimer:** My headcanon, my rules, but I'm borrowing the characters from Once.

Her Sacrifice

Of course it would end where it all began. Granny's Diner, Fate wouldn't have it any other way. They had set the trap hours before and now...

It was time. _Tick-tock, dearie._

They came together again, heroes and villains, to save her. Just like in Camelot. Only this time, this time, the price was so much more than she could bear. _I can't lose you too._

Killia- no, not Killian anymore. The goodness in him was gone, suffocated by the crushing weight of darkness. A vengeful pirate with dark magic, a terror of a combination that wreaked havoc on the town for the past few days, calling up old debts and settling ancient scores. _Shall we finish what we started, Crocodile?_

The second Dark One was frozen, trapped in a cage of squid ink that held him rooted in place. That place, the same place where only weeks before, she had cradled his dying body as he told her to save herself. Where everything had gone wrong. Why didn't she listen? Why did she ignore Merlin's dire warning? If only she had let him go... _I don't want to pay this price._

But there was no time for wishes and what-ifs. This had to be done, it was the only way. She held Excalibur stiffly in her hand, the cold steel burning her palm. _Leave Excalibur alone._

The Dark pirate snarled where he stood, his voice gravely and... wrong. "So it comes to this, Dark One," he snapped, motionless except for his facial expressions. He looked at her with such hate, an anger she had never seen in him, even when he had been mired in his revenge against Gold years before. _Even demons can be killed, I will find a way._

"Stop talking," she whispered. He ignored her, eyes flashing darkly as he glanced around the room.

"Or are you going by _Emma_ now? I always knew you'd gone soft." He smirked. "Didn't have what it takes to truly be the Dark One, did you. Even this," he spat toward Gold, who was leaning against the bar, the bruises from their battle standing out darkly in the fluorescent lighting of the diner. "This _coward,_ he never had the guts to embrace the power."

 _It's not really him_ , she told herself. The ink had been only used on Hook, but she was just as motionless.

He sighed, loudly. "Well, let's get on with it. I suppose you're meant to kill me with that?" _Excalibur was forged to cut immortal ties._

She tried to hate him, tried to think of all the terrible things he'd confessed to doing in his unnaturally long life.

 _I killed him in front of his wife._

 _I was the villain in that story._

 _I've succumbed to darkness before in my life._

Other scenes kept invading her mind.

 _I won't stop fighting for us._

 _You've got a piercing-eyed smoldering pirate here who loves you._

 _I love you, Emma Swan._

 _"_ Enough!" she cried out. His knowing grin deepened - it was almost as if he could feel her emotions. It didn't go both ways; all she saw, all that she knew of him now, was this empty echo of the only man who ever loved her more than she could have imagined possible. _Don't you know, Emma? It's you._

She turned to Regina, passing her the sword. "You do it," she said softly, tears threatening to take over. _I'm afraid because I do want a future with you._

"I- I can't, Emma," the former queen replied. Her mother was openly crying beside her, even David and Robin looked as if the masks of determination they had so carefully placed over their features were about to shatter. And Henry...

"Ha!" The black pirate laughed, a cruel sound. "Don't you know, Emma?" _Don't use those words, his words!_ "You did this to me! You _saved_ me, brought me back to be with you," he taunted viciously. " _You_ made me this, you're the _only_ one who can undo it."

 _You can do this, love._

His voice came from nowhere and everywhere, all at once. _His_ voice. Killian's voice. Encouraging her. He always encouraged her, he knew her strengths better than she did. And now... she needed every ounce of that strength. She drew up the sword and stepped forward, steadying breaths to calm herself. _As you wish._

"Tell me, love," he whispered, eyes narrowing as she approached, the blue electric under his kohl. "Will you miss me?" He broke out in a wide smile.

She raised the sword, touching the tip to his chest.

"I loved you."

She shoved the cursed blade as hard as she could through his body. He screamed, bile rising in her throat as he arched against his magical bonds in agony, face contorted in a mask of pain. She felt the darkness unlatching itself from around her as it was sucked toward him, inky tendrils wrapping around his frozen form. Soon he was cloaked in a cocoon of obsidian, blacker than night itself, and then, with a flash, he was gone.

 _Our future is now. I will follow you, to the ends of the earth, and beyond._

The silence never sounded so loud.


	2. His Sacrifice

**Disclaimer:** My headcanon, my rules, but I'm borrowing the characters from Once.

His Sacrifice

He knew about the trap. He knew walking into the Diner was a set up. But he went anyway.

It was time. _Tick-tock, dearie._

Everyone was there, all their friends and family. They all came together to stop him, to save her, to save everyone. He didn't blame them at all - the darkness had to be destroyed, once and for all. He only regretted the liar he would become when it was over. _If there's one thing I'm good at, it's surviving._

He struggled inside, fighting against the voices that whispered - no, _screamed_ \- at him to become the very thing he'd hunted his whole life. From the second he'd touched that damned sword, the one with both their names on it, the one she now held, he knew this was the only way to end this. For good. _Shall we finish what we started, Crocodile?_

He struggled against the magical ink that held him in place, the same place where only weeks before, he had begged her to save herself, to end the curse. He didn't fault her for her choice, he would have done the same. He remembered the pain in her eyes as she watched him struggle to breathe. He vividly recalled the uncertainty, the hesitation, when faced with what saving him could cause. _Reunite the blades so I can see them before I go._

She'd made her stand that day, though he begged her not to. The Darkness that called to him was strong, so much stronger than he had imagined they could be. This was what she had been fighting, no wonder she had almost given in. How could he fight against the pull of that again? _I don't want to pay this price._

But he had one advantage he hadn't counted on - he knew his enemy. He'd been down this road before, he'd tasted the darkness, lived comfortably with it for centuries. It was something he could recognize, and fight. But her, she had already turned. Her actions in Camelot, her one selfish action in all the years he'd known her, had changed the nature of that fight. He could beat back the Darkness, but it was too late for her. _It will be your final step into the darkness._

He watched her now, careful to wear the mask of hate she now recognized as his Darkness. Her pain was palpable, he didn't need magic to know. He hated the lie he lived, the heartbreak his words and actions caused her. There was no other choice. _I want to hurt you like you hurt me._

"So it comes to this, Dark One," he snapped, his voice grating even to his own ears. _Trust me, things'll go a lot smoother if you do._

"Stop talking," she whispered. The woman he loved with every ounce of his being was falling apart in front of him, and he was the one who was breaking her.

"Or are you going by _Emma_ now?" he continued darkly, ignoring her request for silence. "Didn't have what it takes to truly be the Dark One, did you. Even this," he spat toward Gold, cuts and bruises littering his battered frame, injuries he's caused, the first believable course of action for a revenge-driven pirate with dark magic, his first ruse. "This _coward_ , he never had to the guts to embrace the power." _I'm doing it for you._

He sighed dramatically, bored expression shifting onto his features. "Well, let's get on with it. I suppose you're meant to kill me with that?" _What about our future? I'll just be happy knowing you'll have one._

He could see her visibly fighting to hate him, to gather the strength to take the next step. He wanted to call out to her, tell her how much he loved her, how much he forgave her - for Camelot, for lying to her, for this - but that wasn't the way this was meant to play out. _We can find another way, together._

"Enough!" she cried out. His heart broke more than he thought possible as she turned toward Regina, trying to pass the grisly task to someone else. The act he'd been holding up since that night in her house hadn't been enough to make her hate him. _That's quite a lot of faith you're putting on me, Swan._

"Ha!" He barked, loading as much derision into his voice as he could manage. "Don't you know, Emma?" _It's you_. "You did this to me! You _saved_ me, brought me back to be with you. You made me this, you're the _only_ one who can undo it." He hated himself even more, the pain his words caused seemed to pierce straight through her like knives.

 _You can do this, love._

She straightened, almost as if she could hear his thoughts of encouragement. She suddenly seemed stronger, bolstered by either heartbreak or love, he wasn't entirely sure. She drew the sword and stepped closer, determination in her face. One more push, one more nudge closer to the edge, that's all she needed. _You're something of an open book._

"Tell me, love," trying to make his whispers menacing, his eyes flashing with all the remaining darkness he could manage as the tip of the sword tapped the spot right over his heart. "Will you miss me?" He forced himself to smile madly. _Do you love me?_

"I loved you."

With that, she slammed the sword into his chest. Agony like he'd never felt before exploded in every nerve of his body. He tried to hold back but he couldn't help the scream that tore from his throat. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't see, but he could feel. He could feel the Darkness gathering from her body and working its way to his, joining, melding, mixing in the air around him.

Within moments, he was engulfed in a swirling cloud of black. It was hard to imagine that only a couple months earlier, she was at the center of those raging tendrils of Darkness. Now it was his turn to finally wipe out the curse that he'd chased for centuries, to complete a hero's journey. _I came back to save you._

A thousand moments flashed through his mind, all moments spent with her.

 _When I win your heart, it will be because you want me._

 _Will you go out with me again?_

 _I'm going to choose to see the best in you._

 _I love you, Emma Swan._

 _ **Goodbye.**_

And then nothing.


End file.
